International Human Rights and Mental Disability Law: When the Silenced are Heard

Michael L. Perlin

Abstract

Society is largely blind to the ongoing violations of international human rights law in the context of the institutional commitment and treatment of persons with mental disabilities. Notwithstanding a robust set of international law principles, standards, and doctrines, people with mental disabilities live in some of the harshest conditions that exist in any society. The recent ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities forces all nations to take seriously these issues, and the conditions that are faced on a daily basis by persons worldwide who are ... More

Society is largely blind to the ongoing violations of international human rights law in the context of the institutional commitment and treatment of persons with mental disabilities. Notwithstanding a robust set of international law principles, standards, and doctrines, people with mental disabilities live in some of the harshest conditions that exist in any society. The recent ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities forces all nations to take seriously these issues, and the conditions that are faced on a daily basis by persons worldwide who are institutionalized because of mental disability. These conditions are the product of neglect, lack of legal protection against improper and abusive treatment, and, primarily social attitudes (“sanism” and “pretextuality”) that demean, trivialize, and ignore the humanity of persons with disabilities. This book draws attention to these issues, to shed light on a shame that governments continue to ignore, and to invigorate the debate on a social policy issue that remains “beneath the radar” for most of the world’s nations by examining the mistreatment of persons with mental disabilities around the world. This book “matters,” not simply to institutionalized persons and their families, but to all concerned citizens of the world. Governmental inaction (in some cases, through benign neglect; in others, because of malignant motives) demeans human dignity, denies personal autonomy, and disregards the most authoritative and comprehensive prescription of human rights obligations. These issues should matter to all citizens of the world who take human rights seriously, and who care about how we treat those who remain, in many nations, locked away in facilities that violate any concept of fundamental fairness in conditions that still shock the human conscience. They should matter to policymakers, to governmental officials, to mental health professionals, to human rights advocates and activists, and to scholars.

End Matter

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